By 
February 25th, 2024
Steve Altemus, chief executive officer and co-founder, Intuitive Machines uses model to describe lunar lander’s attitude on the Moon’s surface. Image credit: NASA/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Mum’s the word from Intuitive Machines regarding their recently landed Odysseus Moon craft.
Meanwhile, that’s not the case from an Embry‑Riddle team that’s also working around the clock, all in preparation for ejecting their EagleCam from the apparently tipped over lunar lander.
While no go-ahead time has been issued, the device once launched from Odysseus may provide insight as to the overall condition of the lander as its rests on its side on the Moon.
Embry‑Riddle’s Space Technologies Lab developed EagleCam.
Image credit: Embry‑Riddle/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Visual support
The Embry-Riddle team is adapting its original deployment plan to provide the visual support.
EagleCam was to be dispatched from Odysseus prior to lander touchdown. However, that plan was scrapped early due to communication and navigation disruptions the night of the Moon landing on February 22.
Intended deployment of EagleCam. Image credit: Intuitive Machines
Odysseus is in an “unexpected attitude,” reports Intuitive Machines.
The good news is that telemetry data confirms that the Embry‑Riddle EagleCam, a CubeSat, is still fully operational.
Simulations
EagleCam’s team now intends to deploy its camera system to capture imagery of the lander in its current state, “offering valuable data that could help Intuitive Machines refine its plans moving forward,” according to an Embry-Riddle statement.
Image credit: Embry‑Riddle/Inside Outer Space screengrab
“We are currently running simulations which show that EagleCam should deploy a total distance of somewhere between 3 to 5 meters [10 to 16 feet], with a best guess at about 4.1 meters [roughly 13 feet],” said Troy Henderson, faculty lead of the EagleCam team.
If EagleCam travels that distance from the side of the lander, it might snag photographs of Odysseus’ orientation and overall condition
“The imagery would then be transferred via Wi-Fi back to the lander and then transmitted down to engineers on Earth for analysis,” explains the statement.
Image credit: Intuitive Machines
High pressure environment
“We have built-in redundancies into this device, with Wi-Fi antenna diversity both in the payload and the lander, which increases our chances of mission success under these unexpected scenarios,” adds Eduardo Rojas, the Embry‑Riddle assistant professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering who designed EagleCam’s Wi-Fi antennas.
Rojas adds that the 24/7 work underway with the EagleCam crew is being done in a distinctive “high-pressure environment.”
The timeline for deployment of EagleCam from Odysseus remains unknown.
Go to this informative video on EagleCam and the Embry‑Riddle team at:
Posted in Space News
